Hurricane powers generator sales

Photo by Bruce A. Scruton — A Lowes manager gives some customers a quick briefing on using a portable electric generator on Monday, Oct. 29, 2012, as another store employee waits to accompany one of them to the check-out.

HAMPTON — Kathy Kulisz stood just out of the reach of the rain in the exitway at Lowe's, at her side was a store employee with a push cart loaded with a brand new generator.

"It's one of those things you don't think about until it's too late," Kulitz said.

Earlier in the morning, the store received a shipment of 200 generators, after selling out over the weekend. By 10 a.m., most had been sold.

"They (customers) were lining up at 5:30 this morning," said a store employee who was running the forklift and bringing about 10 boxed generators at a time from a back storage area to the front entry.

There, with military precision, other store employees were processing the buyers. One lady had a clipboard, crossing off numbers of people as they got to the head of the line and entered the store.

Inside, a manager took two customers at a time and gave them a briefing about gasoline and oil needs of the generators, noting the store was out of the 10w30 oil needed for the generator and suggesting they get oil on the way home.

More employees, with pushcarts loaded with a generator each, waited for that briefing to end, then accompanied the buyers to the checkout and then to the exit where more employees were waiting to load cars.

Kulitz said her husband Ed drove to work early this morning but found that work was closing down because of Hurricane Sandy. "As he came home, he saw the sign out front (on Route 206) and we came up," she explained.

Ed Kulitz said they had a portable generator "but it was old. About two years ago, it broke down and I just didn't think of getting another one until this morning."